Technical debt is a financial metaphor: you borrow against future productivity to ship faster today. Like financial debt, it accrues interest in the form of increased maintenance burden.
Technical debt becomes a crisis when it is unacknowledged. Acknowledged debt is managed: documented, prioritised, and addressed in a planned schedule. Unacknowledged debt grows invisibly until it becomes impossible to ignore — usually at the worst possible moment.
SellTrove shipped its first version with acknowledged technical debt in three areas, documented in a technical debt register with priority scores. Two of the three have been addressed. One remains, deprioritised because its cost is low and its fix would require a refactor that carries shipping risk.
Manage your technical debt like a loan. Know what you owe. Know the interest rate. Have a repayment plan.
— Dick Bassey | DevDick | 2024